This presentation was provided by Sara Gonzalez of the University of Florida during a NISO webinar on the topic of makerspaces, held on December 14, 2016.

1. SARA GONZALEZ
MARSTON SCIENCE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Creating a Digital Makerspace in
the Academic Library

2. Digital Makerspace
 Games
 Videos & Images
 Virtual Reality (VR)
 Music
 Mobile Apps
 3D modeling
Can be standalone or
complementary to a
traditional makerspace
Space & Technology for creating digital objects

3. Mobile Application
Development Environment
Original Purpose?
Give students experience programming
mobile apps

4. Summer 2014…
Renovation of basement floor

5. MADE@UF
Library
UF IT
Anne Allen
(Academic
Technology)
Computer
Science
Alumni
Local Tech
Companies

6. A different kind of makerspace
 Develop own apps individually or in groups
 Test apps on variety of devices
 Network with other students
 Find mentors with local tech community

7. MADE@UF
Group Study

8. MADE@UF
Individual Study

9. MADE@UF
Virtual Reality PC’s

10. Second Location off Campus
Partner with Housing – services are identical and open to all students
Mint Graphic
Design Studio
A2 Fab Lab
Center for
Entrepreneurship &
Innovation

11. Devices that Circulate
• 10 containers, each consisting of an iPad touch,
iPad mini, iPad, and 7-inch Samsung tablet
• 2 pairs of Google Glasses
• 2 pairs of Epson Moverios
• Oculus Rifts & Hololens (coming soon!)
• Raspberry Pi’s & Arduinos
• Structure Scanners

12. Apple Developer University
Program & Legal Agreement
Free program to qualified, degree granting, higher education
institutions.
Allows students to create iOS apps without paying the $99 developer
fee
https://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/university/
All students must sign legal agreement to use the space
◦ Respect copyright, privacy laws, and UF computer use policies
◦ Comply with Apple agreement
◦ UF images and branding cannot be used in app

13. Some of the Software
Eclipse ADT Xcode
Android
Studio
Brackets Oculus SeaMonkey
Unity Unreal CryEngine

14. Successful Activities
Speakers
Tech Fair

15. Kinwa Mobile Developers Visit

16. ~600 students from all over the southeast
48 hours “hackathon” in the library

17. Challenges - Technology
Obsolete
Technology
Rapid pace of
new mobile
technology
Trending
technology
→VR
Increasing
demands on
computer
hardware

18. Challenges - Software
Software licensing
Identifying
essential software
Give students
freedom to install

19. Challenges – Instruction
Instruction and
Tutorials are crucial
to expanding user
base
More
students want
to create than
are willing to
teach
Staff often don’t (yet)
have the necessary
knowledge to teach
How to
incentivize?

20. Challenges – Building a Community
Slow to build a
community of students
building apps
Space is very popular for
students studying –
discourages students
from using it for
intended purpose
Students secretive
about their apps
Ideal is to find student
clubs to use the space

21. New Directions & Opportunities
New direction with Virtual Reality + Augmented Reality
◦ Partnership with Computer Science and English Departments
◦ GatorVR student club
◦ TRACE lab (trace.English.ufl.edu)
Synergistic with other library activities
◦ Themes on campus – innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity
Closer ties with campus IT
Support teaching efforts of departments

22. Takeaway Points
Lab is scalable – much of the
software is free to download
Librarians don’t have to be
“expert” programmers but do need
to stay abreast of campus needs
Instruction, student involvement, &
IT support is crucial to success
Ties in with other makerspaces,
library and campus creativity and
innovation initiatives
Made.it.ufl.edu